The women's 48 kg judo competition at the 2008 Summer Olympics was held on August 9 at the Beijing Science and Technology University Gymnasium.

This event was the lightest of the women's judo weight classes, limiting competitors to a maximum of 48 kilograms of body mass.

The tournament bracket consisted of a single-elimination contest culminating in a gold medal match.

The two judokas who lost in the semifinals faced the winner of the opposite half of the bracket's repechage in bronze medal bouts.

Those judoka eliminated in earlier rounds by the four semifinalists of the main bracket advanced to the repechage.